


The New Kids on the Bus--Agent's of Shield Season 6

by Lois_Lane



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Adorable FitzSimmons (Agents of SHIELD), Drama, F/M, Family Bonding, Family Drama, Family Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Shield season 6, Team Bonding, Team as Family, director Mack, fitzsimmons have twins
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-09
Updated: 2018-07-09
Packaged: 2019-06-07 19:50:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15226611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lois_Lane/pseuds/Lois_Lane
Summary: In the aftermath of season five, Mack is left as the director of SHIELD, which at this point may as well be the director of nothing considering May left with Coulson and Daisy followed Simmons off to space. With SHIELD finally becoming legitimized by the government, Mack has to rebuild it from the ground up--starting with the Academy. Almost two years later, everyone except Coulson has returned. Plus, Jemma has given birth to twins! Mack also adds the first two new Academy graduates to the Lighthouse team and they have to find their place on the team, while everyone else tries to go back to normal, but normal doesn't exist anymore. Add to that a brand new villain and everyone's hands are super full.





	1. Episode 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just randomly thought of this and thought I should write it down. I hope you enjoy it and sorry in advance for any typos, I typed it on my iPad.

 

Mack crossed his arms with a smile as he watched new recruits training. In the last two years he had accomplished quite a bit. Coulson had handed S.H.I.E.L.D. over to him after he decided to live out the rest of his days in Tahiti with May. The team had tried to help Coulson—to save him from the fate he chose. But Coulson was never one to put himself above the world and he didn’t. Mack was the logical choice for director after Daisy renounced the position.

PR was the first place to start repairing things. S.H.I.E.L.D. issued a formal apology to the people and donated their time repairing everything that had been destroyed during the whole Graviton fiasco.

The price of doing this publicly was that they all faced trial—they were the most wanted people, so it was to be expected. They all got off relatively lucky. Talbot’s wife and son were the ones who really helped them there. They explained the situation (in more detail than S.H.I.E.L.D. necessarily wanted) and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were cleared. Reparations (in the form of money) were the only punishment.

After all of that mess, the next job was to build up from the ground. Mack began rebuilding the Playground and turned it into the new Academy. He modernized the Lighthouse and made it into the new HQ. It was much subtler than the Triskelion ever was, but he thought it suited the team.

It was lonely, though. After the trials ended, no one could stop Simmons and Daisy from going after Fitz. Though, he wouldn’t have stopped them even if he could have. May had gone straight back to Coulson after the trials. Coulson didn’t have long. So, it was Mack, Yo-yo, Davis, and Piper left to rebuild S.H.I.E.L.D.

May returned after two months. He told her to take some time off but she told him Coulson didn’t want her to build her walls back up. Mack sent her, Davis, and Piper out to recruit. They pulled out eight Academy professors who had not turned to Hydra. This ended up only being one Coms professor, two Ops, and five Sci-Tech professors. If anyone asked him, he was actually grateful that most of them were Sci-Tech because those would be the hardest to find. He recruited a few more professors and after another month, the Academy was open for recruits. The classes were small—only about 100 in each, but it was a huge jump up from before.

Eighteen months after the trials, Deke Shaw returned to the Lighthouse to everyone’s surprise. He returned significantly tanner and with two suitcases of souvenirs in tow. Mack clapped him on the shoulder and welcomed him back. Deke was a bit frantic after hearing about FitzSimmons and Daisy, but there was little he could do. The last communication from them was four months prior saying that they found Fitz and were trying to wake him up. This was fantastic especially considering that six months after their departure Mack received a communication stating that Simmons had given birth to twins—a boy named Phil and a girl named Skye.

Twenty-two months after the trials, Mack received communication that the ol’ bus kids were ready to land. They were welcomed with hugs and many squeals as everyone met the two toddlers added to the team. Even May cooed a bit, to everyone’s surprise. So many stories were told as most of the gang finally got back together. Coulson’s absence was felt, but they all decided to keep it to themselves.

Two days after the FitzSimmons/Daisy return, everyone took a field trip to the new Academy. They were about to have their first two grads from the new Academy. The second year of students tripled the enrollment. It was going better than Mack had imagined. FitzSimmons were excited to be guest-lecturing. May, Piper, and Yo-yo guest-trained an Ops hand-to-hand combat class. Davis and Daisy sat in on a Coms hacking course (lecturing was not their thing).

That left Mack who wandered around watching a bit of all of the lessons. Mack’s smile turned into a chuckle as he watched one of his soon-to-be grads take down Piper and Yo-yo simultaneously. Colin O’Brien was his name. He was a young Irish man, 21 years old. He had taken up taekwondo, jujutsu, and t’ai chi as a child. He had been mugged as a seven year old and had been obsessed since. He seemed to have S.H.I.E.L.D.’s fighting style down as well as what seemed to be moves the CIA used. He had a muscular but slim build and had played rugby since age 10. He was the top of his class.

The next class he sat in on was FitzSimmons’ lecture. The other soon-to-be grad, Kaetlyn Healy, was there. He couldn’t offer everyone graduating from the Academy a job with him at the Lighthouse, but she was one he definitely wanted. She was the jack-of-all-trades, except she was the best at all of it—or most of it. She was only 17 years old and she had three PhDs— bio, chem, and physics.

Mack was interested in someone who could fill in for FitzSimmons, since the pair decided that they would take turns working in the lab as the other stayed with the twins. Mack preferred two minds working on a project and if Kaetlyn knew all three fields, she could fill in all of the gaps. It wasn’t until he started looking into her that he learned she was also attending Ops. She was the top of her class in sci-tech and second in her class in Ops, only beaten by Colin. She was one of those geniuses who graduated high school at age eight. She had her three PhDs by age 14 and joined S.H.I.E.L.D. because she was bored.

Being bored seemed to be her motivation for everything—why she had her parents start homeschooling her at age two and by the time she was old enough for real school, she was able to test into high school. High school still was not enough for her at age six, so she started taekwondo and jujutsu. When she began undergrad at age nine, she started as just a chemist but picked up biology and physics because she was bored. She graduated undergrad at ten and had her black belts by then too. And then she began her masters. By twelve she had become a PhD candidate in all three of her fields of study and she had picked up kickboxing, t’ai chi, and judo. And it was all because she was bored.

One more month and he could take Colin and Kaetlyn.

——————————

Colin joined the team the day after graduation. Kaetlyn did not attend graduation and asked Mack for a week break before joining the team. After an explanation he promised to keep confidential, he allowed her the time. At the moment, they hadn’t had any big missions. They were acclimating a few new inhumans after a second wave of terrigen hit, still in fish and now in seaweed. They found a couple 084’s,but besides that, the last two years had been relatively quiet. There wasn’t even a whisper from Hydra, but on some level, that made Mack feel more uneasy.

Colin was already starting to fit in with the team. He had built a great connection with Deke and Daisy. Now that it was a week later, everyone was excited to meet Kaetlyn.  
FitzSimmons were jumping with excitement. Simmons been so excited that she had spent the last three days reorganizing the entire lab. The Zephyr landed right outside the Academy.

Fitz was really happy about a new brain to pick on theories especially since Kaetlyn called him out at their lecture, bring up points he never even thought to consider. But he didn’t like the fact that he and Jemma wouldn’t really be working together anymore. He knew it was silly because they would still be working on projects together, just not at the same time. Plus, they were partners in every other aspect of their lives and he really did like the idea of the twins being raised by their actual parents.

Kaetlyn entered the bus with Mack helping her carry what looked to be two heavy cases filled with some sort of tools. She pulled a suitcase behind her and wore a backpack. The first thing everyone noticed as they stood at the top of the ramp was her very, very short skirt. It looked nice, especially on her, it was just that they were used to FitzSimmons, who always wore jeans and decent tops and not someone who was so openly—girly. Was that even the right word? When she out-bubbled Jemma in her greeting, they each silently came to the conclusion that, yes, girly was the correct term. They knew her as a scientist and martial arts master so they were expecting someone who was a mix of May and Jemma. They were wrong.

Mack put the briefcases down and patted Kaetlyn’s shoulder as he asked her to introduce herself. She nodded and began, “My name is Dr. Kaetlyn Healy, but please call me Kaety. Um- I have PhDs in physics, chemistry, and biology. I am a master martial artist—“

“But can she shoot a gun, she’s—,“ May began.

“You’re right. Agent May, I presume? I do not like to use a gun, but if I need a gun, I will take one and shoot with precision.”

May crossed her arms and let a smirk cross her face.

Kaety looked around at the team while nervously fidgeting with her fingers. When she made eye contact with Colin, a mischievous grin flashed across her face. She continued speaking without ever breaking eye contact, “I’m really excited to join the team. I heard it was incredibly exciting, challenging, and you’re all quite the family.”

Jemma, Daisy, and Yo-yo came up to hug Kaety, which made Kaety tense up, but she tried to hide it as much as she could. Mack patted her on the shoulder again before taking the cases to the lab. Fitz introduced himself with a handshake and compliment. Kaety had trained with Davis and Piper a couple times at the Academy when they checked in on it. They greeted her with fist bumps. And then Colin came up to shake her hand, “Hi Kaety.”

She smiled, “Hello Colin. I’m really glad I get to work with you.”

Colin couldn’t hold back his blush especially once he realized they were still holding hands. He cleared his throat and let go of her hand to scratch the back of his head. “Um, me too.”

After everyone greeted Kaety, Jemma grabbed Kaety’s and Fitz’s hand and led them to the bunks.

“Here are the bunks, Kaety. I wouldn’t unpack everything because we are based out of the Lighthouse, but I normally keep a couple pairs of clothes, toiletries, and some tech on board. Yep, just put your stuff down here and then I can show you the lab!”

After Jemma’s extensive tour of the Zephyr’s lab (which, according to Jemma, was only a fifth of the size of the one at the Lighthouse and of course Jemma would show her the Lighthouse’s lab, in great detail, once they landed), Kaety returned to her bunk to unpack exactly as Jemma had suggested. Kaety enjoyed her mentors so far. They were really friendly and the only people who could out-think her.

It wasn’t long after she finished that she was told to buckle up for landing.

Once inside the Lighthouse, Jemma repeated the actions she took on the Zephyr. After the 2 hour tour of the lab and another 2 hours spent on learning the projects they were already working on, Kaety really needed to stretch out. She asked Jemma to show her the way to the gym. She then ran up to her room to quickly unpack her stuff and change into yoga pants and a sports bra. Then she headed back to the gym.

Once she got there, she saw Colin and May sparring. She opened the door and leaned against the wall to watch the pair glde around one another.

“Agent Healy, this is not a spectator sport. You should either join in or leave.”

Agent. The word sounded strange to her. Of course, once she accepted the job, she became an agent, but that hadn’t really hit her yet. She pulled her hair up into a ponytail and got in her stance before joining in.

She helped Colin by ganging up on May. After they took her down, she did a quick leg sweep on him before he could turn on her, sending him to the ground. She put a knee on his chest and pinned him with his arms above his head. May smiled at her.

“Did you learn your lesson O’Brien,” May chuckled. The loudspeaker, however, cut off her chuckle, calling her to Mack’s office.

Once May left, Kaety rolled off Colin and helped him up before assuming her stance again. “It’s just you and me now, O’Brien—a fair fight.”

He smiled, “We’ve been her before and I always win.”

She smiled back and raise an eyebrow, “We’ll see.”

They matched each other move for move, dancing around one another as though it was choreographed. After thirty minutes had passed and neither had yielded, Kaety knew she had to switch strategies. That’s when her face displayed a wicked grin.

“What are you scheming?”

“I think we should have sex.”

Colin stopped so quickly, Kaety fell to the ground by overthrowing a punch without him blocking. She rolled up to her feet.

“You’re just trying to distract me,” he scoffed while trying to take his stance again.

She kicked low, which he dodged, “No, I really think we should.” Then she kicked up at his side, which he took the full force of.

“And why would you think that.” He asked as he deflected another kick though not attempting to strike her.

She sent an uppercut towards his gut, which he blocked before stating, matter-of-factly, “We are both attractive and very fit people.”

She sent an elbow to his ear, which he dodged, before continuing, “And we have a decent amount of chemistry, which should make the sex enjoyable.”

She sent a jab straight at his face as she completed the sentence and Colin failed to block it, causing her to break his nose.

“Fuck,” he screamed a he grabbed at his nose.

“Yield!”

“I yield. Christ!”

Once he yielded, she put an arm around his back and pulled his hand away from his face. Gently touching his nose she sighed, “Yep, it’s definitely broken.”

“Clearly.”

Kaety grabbed a towel from the corner of the room and started mopping up the blood on his face. Wrapping her arm around him again, she started leading him towards the med bay. “Come on, I’ll fix it up for you.”

—————————

The whole team sat around the common room drinking beers and chatting that night. Kaety left earlier than the others, claiming that she was tired. Before she left though, she whispered into Colin’s ear, “I didn’t say it just to distract you. I’ll be in my room all night.”

Colin left the group only 15 minutes later. He wasn’t entirely sure what he was doing. He wasn’t the kind of person who slept with people without dating them, especially if he barely knew them. Kaety spent most of her time at the Academy with Sci-Tech people and he thought he recalled her having a boyfriend before. Plus, he didn’t even know how old she was. It was then he realized he should ask her that, just in case.

He knocked at her door, and she opened it wearing skimpy pj shorts and a tight cami.

“Hi,’ was the only thing he could think to say, as his eyes looked her up and down.

“Hi,” she smiled as she urged him in the room by his shirt and pulled him down to kiss him.

He instantly melted into the kiss. After a few moments, the overwhelming pull from the kiss started to ease a bit and he could clear his mind enough to pull away.

Kaety pouted.

“Kaety, um, how—how old are you?”

“Old enough.”

“Good,” He grabbed her waist and pulled her back in.

—————————

When Kaety suggested Colin return to his room, he looked utterly confused. She almost considered going back on it when his forehead crinkled and his gorgeous blue eyes bore deep into her, looking for an explanation.

“It wouldn’t look good to the others. It’s my first night here and I’m waking up with someone? It’s not quite the reputation I want.”

‘So you’re ashamed?”

“No. Come on, you have to understand the situation. Plus, it’s not like we are a couple, is there a point to cuddling at night with a sex partner?”

“No. It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”

“Come on—“

Colin left the room, slamming the door and walking the eleven steps to his room. Kaety held her breath when she heard someone else open their door and then close it a few second later. Once it all quieted down, she couldn’t stop herself from crying and everything poured out of her. She couldn’t even breathe, and yet she continued crying as her whole body shook.

When Jemma knocked on her door at 8 am sharp, Kaety was still awake. The tears had dried up a couple hours ago, but she hadn’t slept. She had just curled up with her knees to her chest and arms around them. After crying, she felt numb and those moments when she didn’t feel anything were the best.

Kaety cleared her throat and asked for a minute. Jemma said something about grabbing Fitz and the twins and meeting her down in the lab in five minutes.

Once Kaety heard Jemma walk away she moaned. She looked around her room and saw a couple water bottles. Grabbing one and a towel, she splattered her face with the water and cleaned the make-up and tear stains off her face. She put on some  
Mascara and pulled on a skirt and tank top before heading down to the lab.

The moment Kaety entered the lab, Jemma set a toddler on her hip. “Here, take Phil while I run these blood tests.”

“Is there anything scientific you’d like me to do? I mean I do have multiple PhDs to do more than—”

“Yes, run analysis on those result really quickly, would you?”

Even though Jemma was excited to work with Kaety, she was a nervous wreck. She liked doing things a certain way and even though the way Kaety did things was probably great, Jemma was not great at change. What if she rearranged the beakers and flasks? What if instead of sorting them via shape, size, and use she sorted them just by shape and size? Or, god forbid, just by size. Jemma decided to give Kaety a lesson on sorting everything.

“I’m not a heathen, Simmons! B is for blue is for Bio sample! Do you think I was born on an alien planet or something?”

Fitz, let out a large sigh as he juggled the twins and watched Jemma quiz Kaety on every minute detail.

“Jemma, she has it. She won’t ruin our system. And if she does, you can lecture her then instead of now.”

Jemma tried to complain but Fitz cut her off, “Jemma, please just let it go and take Phil. He will not stay still.”

———————

Jemma was very excited. Kaety had worn the twins out while they were at the lab. She and Fitz only needed Kaety’s brain today, so Kaety spun the twins around, tossed them in the air, and all sorts of other draining activities. This meant she and Fitz could have a nice dinner and have sex for the first time in forever.

When the kids fell asleep immediately once put to bed, she and Fitz snuck down to the kitchen. Fitz said he would cook her a nice meal so she should sit down and drink some wine. After he poured her a glass and sat her down in the common room, he went back to the kitchen to prep the food. He looked around in the fridge and found some nice steaks and fresh veggies. He’d have to repay Mack for stealing his and Yo-yo’s food, but Mack would understand.

When Fitz finished cooking and got it all set up in the dining area, he called Jemma, but she didn’t respond. So he walked over to her and found she was fast asleep. He bent down to caress her head and tried to ease her awake. “Jemma, sweetie, it’s time for dinner.”

“The twins are asleep so my body says I have to sleep,” she groaned.

“Your body needs food too. Come on, love.”

Before they returned to their room, they checked in on the twins, who were still fast asleep. They both smiled and Fitz grabbed Jemma’s hand, leading her to the next door over.

“Kaety did really well today. She disputed a theory of mine with a study that I could barely understand until she explained it,” Jemma chirped as she let herself fall onto their bed.

Fitz turned to lock the door and take his shoes off. “I think she’s pretty great too. Did you know she was teaching the twins the periodic table on her lunch today? I bet if you ask Phil what a noble gas is he could tell you. She is great with them and they are getting quite attached already.”

“Oh, you don’t have to tell me. When I put Phil down to bed, he asked if Kaety could do it instead.” Fitz chuckled in response while walking towards Jemma. “Do you think she’s sleeping with Colin?”

Fitz stopped right in front of Jemma, “I know they’re sleeping together. I heard them while I was rocking Skye back to sleep.

“Oh no,” Jemma gave him an apologetic look, “But you know, besides the age difference, I think they make quite the cute couple.”

“Yes. So, we both agreed we love Kaety. And we love her with Colin. Now can we talk about the important stuff?”

Jemma giggled in response as Fitz started leaning her down and kissing her. Jemma’s wedding ring snagged in Fitz’s hair as she tried to weave her fingers through it and his face went dark.

“I’m sorry.”

Fitz huffed as he let go of Jemma and sat up.

“Fitz, I know it’s a sore spot between us, but can we please just talk about it?”

“What is there to talk about? I want to marry you and you don’t want to marry me. It’s pretty straight forward.”

“Fitz, don’t do that. Please, can’t you understand? I already married you,” Jemma pleaded.

“It wasn’t me,” Fitz snapped.

“But it was, mostly. Am I just supposed to pretend like it didn’t happen? Am I also supposed to pretend you didn’t die while I’m at it? Like I didn’t have to deal with the grief of—of seeing you there—seeing you—,” Jemma’s tears poured down her face.

“Am I supposed to pretend like I married you? Like I was the heroic man who saved the world? Because I’m not. I’m too selfish. I can’t handle the thought of losing you. I can’t be that guy and I can’t pretend I’m him.”

“So, what do we do?”

“I don’t know. Maybe we really are cursed.”

The sadness was apparent on both of their faces. Fitz pulled Jemma into his arms and they just sat there together.

————————

After Kaety’s and Colin’s training session, they were going to load up on protein in the kitchen, but saw that FitzSimmons were kissing there already.

“Come on. I saw some protein bars on the supplies floor,” Colin put his hand on the small of Kaety’s back and guided her quietly away.

When they entered into the rations room, they almost bumped into Daisy and Deke snogging. Colin pulled Kaety closer into him to stop them from actually colliding, earning him a bit of a glare and shove from Kaety.

“Shit,” Daisy yelled as she pulled back from Deke.

“Jesus, can’t someone get protein around here without having to bump into horny-”

Deke cleared his throat and pointed in the direction of protein powder and bars.

Kaety scrunched her face and asked Deke, “Aren’t you Fitzsimmon’s grandson? I could have sworn that’s what they said.”

“Yeah?”

“And Daisy is their best friend? It just seems really, really—messed up.”

“Yeah. Thanks for that,” Deke scoffed.

“Please don’t tell anyone,” Daisy grabbed Kaety’s hand. “They’ll never stop mocking me.”

Kaety smiled and Colin rubbed her upper arm. “Look we just want protein before it’s too late.”

Daisy stopped suddenly, “Wait are you two—“

“Looking for post-workout protein? Yes,” Kaety cut her off as she rushed to grab some of the bars and pulled Colin out of the door with her.

“Is everyone just hooking up here,” Kaety asked.

“Well, hopefully we are about to, love.”

“Don’t call me that, you know the rules.”

“Yes, yes.” Colin did know the rules. He knew them too well andit had barely been two weeks. They are not in a relationship. They were strictly friends with benefits, though he thought that friendship was even beyond what they had when they weren’t sparring or having sex. The rules, according to her, were simple: 1. No feelings 2. No cuddling or other endearing touches of any sort 3. No terms of endearment or discussion beyond what average friends would discuss 4.No one else finds out and 5. No spending the night together.

What Colin couldn’t tell her was he was blatantly breaking rule number one and wished he could break the rest. But if he told her, he would lose her completely.

————————

“And it exploded just right in front of my face and I’ll tell you I will never do that again. Definitely learned my lesson there. So, you don’t want to do that. Well, I mean, if you really want to. I see the value of making a mistake first hand. But I strongly advise against it. I mean just looking at the base composition of the two should tell you—“

Fitz cut Kaety off from her rambling by picking her up and putting her in the beaker closet and shutting the door. He loved her mind, she was incredibly kind, and always going out of her way to help people, but her rambling was like nails on a chalkboard to him. It was like she was a constant ball of crack-induced energy and he couldn’t think over it. Jemma wasn’t fond of the rambling either but she remained quiet about it, though she never stopped Fitz from stopping Kaety. Normally Fitz just put a hand over her mouth or pointed towards the lab’s exit. It was the first time he went this far. But she had only been with them a month and she was already driving him crazy.

“Now, where were we?”

“Whether combining these two would cause combustion. She did give us valuable information, you know,” Jemma mumbled.

“Why couldn’t she just say yes?”

Just then, Mack stuck his head in the lab, “Everyone meet me in the common room in five. Drop whatever you’re doing. I need you there.”

Jemma and Fitz placed the matter down, rather far apart thanks to Kaety’s warning, and headed out towards the common room.

Once the five minutes were up, Mack looked around at everyone. He looked puzzled for a moment before asking where Kaety was.

Fitz spoke up, “She’s in time-out. She was annoying the bloody hell out of us.”

Mack crossed his arms and shook his head, “So, is this what you all think of her?”

“She is just really hyper. It can be too much,” Simmons commented.

“She really does talk too much,” Davis added.

“And too quickly,” Yo-yo added.

Mack looked around at everyone else, who seemed to be extremely interested in the flooring.

Daisy cleared her throat and offered, “I really like her. She’s amazing, really. But I understand where everyone is coming from. Is it too much to ask—“

“Too much to ask,” Mack scoffed. “FitzSimmons, how many times per day does she do things for you? All those meaningless tasks and filling in all the gaps you leave—how many times has she offered to babysit for you and help you out in general, unprompted?

“Colin—you don’t have anything to say? How many times has she helped you in training? I hired her as a scientist. She doesn’t have to spend any time training, let alone most of her free time.

“Daisy, did you ask her to stay up with you all night while you’re decrypting or hacking or building firewalls? Or did she just do it so you weren’t alone? How many times has she helped you stay awake and kept you company?

“May—how many times has she volunteered to sit in the cockpit in silence because she knows you prefer that? Just so you don’t always have to be alone.

“Deke, how many times has she helped you learn whatever you feel like learning in the moment?

“Yo-yo, the new arms she built for you—they can simulate touch to your brain. Did you ask for them?

“Piper, Davis—don’t you remember when you two had the flu last week and she made homemade chicken noodle soup and tea for you guys and visited you a couple times per day, on her breaks?

“Now ask yourselves, has she ever once asked anything of you guys? Can you give me one example? No? I thought not. I have another question for you all. Do you know anything about her? A single detail besides work related things? Her favorite color? Her favorite foods? A movie she likes? Come on guys, these are easy ones. What kind of music does she like? Now, I want you to think long and hard about this one—why is it, do you think, she helps everyone out and is always talking, always filling her time, but never asks for something herself, never talks about herself?”

Everyone returned to staring at the floor except FitzSimmons and Colin. Colin opened and closed his mouth a couple times attempting to say something but falling short. FitzSimmons looked at one another guiltily, seemingly reading one another’s minds. Colin started towards the lab, but they stopped him, wanting to go instead.

They had been so stupid. The facts were laid out plain as day in front of them. She was overcompensating with all of the talking. She used it as a distraction—from anyone noticing and to distract herself. She kept herself busy from the moment she woke up to the moment she passed out from exhaustion. They could tell she didn’t sleep more than a couple hours per night. She distanced herself from people. She was especially cold towards Colin, who was sleeping with her. Both Jemma and Fitz heard her crying on a few occasions as they walked past her door at night. She never did anything for fun and her desire to help everyone seemed like she was trying to make up for something.

They almost ran back to the lab and rushed over to the beaker closet. When they opened the door, they saw Kaety curled up—he legs to her chest and arms around them—crying. They both dropped down to their knees and pulled her in close.


	2. Episode 2

Kaety was trying to pull herself together. She knew Fitz hated her. Why else would he shut her up and kick her out of the lab all the time? He couldn’t stand being in the same room as her. Jemma was always pleasant toward her, but unless talking strictly about science, Jemma was basically giving her the silent treatment. 

Kaety wasn’t quite sure what she had done to them, but considering how much she hated herself, she could understand them hating her too. At the beginning, everyone seemed to like one another, which lasted for about the first two weeks. And the two weeks since were not so great. Kaety tried to take a deep breath in order to calm herself. 

All she wanted to do was science--breakthrough science that would make the world a better place and end the day with kicking ass, but instead she kept getting kicked out of the lab and making everyone miserable and it wasn’t because she was the new kid either. At first she thought it could be they didn’t like new people encroaching in their lab or work, but they seemed to love Colin. 

Kaety tried to control her breathing again, but her jaw was quivering and despite her attempts, she began to cry.

Maybe she should leave the team. She didn’t serve any real purpose. She was a redundancy. They already had Fitz for physics, Simmons for biochem, and the whole rest of the team did Ops. She was still working with both Fitz and Simmons at the same time, guessing that they didn’t trust her enough to leave the lab for a day. She basically babysat the twins while Fitzsimmons worked. She was a glorified babysitter. Yes, she would tell Mack tonight that she was leaving.

Kaety wiped her face. Now was not the time for self-pity. It was the time to hold her head high and walk out with some dignity before they asked her to leave. But despite her attempts to stop the tears, they fell again. Walking out bothered her a bit. She couldn’t remember a single time she gave up.

She couldn’t fathom facing Fitzsimmons with her face swollen and tear-stained, so she tried to clear her mind. Except clearing it just made more room for the thoughts. 

Fitzsimmons abruptly opened the door, causing her to jump a bit and look up at them. They looked at her for a long moment before falling to their knees and hugging her closely. 

“I don’t need your pity,” Kaety tried to push them away, but they held on tighter.

“It’s not pity,” Jemma started, positioned in front of Kaety. “It’s remorse.”

“We are so unbelievably sorry, Kaety,” Fitz added, moving his hands to her shoulders from his spot behind her.

“You didn’t do anything wrong. It was justified. I’m just --just not cut out for this. I--”

“Not cut out for this,” Jemma scoffed and leaned back to look Kaety in the face. “You’re absolutely brilliant and in the field. Did you know Fitz and I never even passed our field exams? We failed miserably.”

“I don’t think anyone is really cut out for what we do. The life on the run, near death experiences being the norm--the loneliness--but you jumped in and could do it all with a smile on your face. You have helped each of us improve and grow and you’ve only been here a month. I think, out of everyone here, you’re the most cut out for it,” Fitz continued. 

“I just really don’t fit in with the team.”

“That’s our fault. You came here your first day and said you liked we were a family and we are a family here. The life we have--you cling to whatever you can that is constant. You make a family with the people you trust around you because you can’t just march into mum and dad’s home and tell them about being shot for the fourth time. You can’t just fake a smile and laugh with mum when you know the world is ten seconds away from being destroyed and the world is depending on you to save it. And we failed you because we didn’t let you into our family,” Jemma explained softly while trying to comfort Kaety by rubbing her arm.

“Well, you’re right about one thing,” Kaety almost laughed while rubbing the last of her tears away. “I can’t go home to my family. But I also can’t stay here. I mean, my whole purpose was to help out and I’ve just become a burden. I think I’ll go in the private sector. It’s what’s best.”

“I don’t know what’s going on in your mind, but self-pity doesn’t look good on you, Kaety,” Jemma decided to try tough love. “I think this is the first time you faced adversity and instead of standing up to fight, you’re trying to run away.”

Kaety went stiff and tried to push away again, but Fitz’ grip tightened. “What would you know about adversity? What would you know about me?”

“Maybe that’s the problem,” Fitz piped in. “You know how to connect to us because we gave you a piece of ourselves--you know quite a bit about us, as you’ve shown through your actions. And I’m not trying to turn this around on you, but you never gave anyone here a piece of yourself. It’s difficult to connect to someone when you know nothing about them.”

Kaety bowed her head like a child being scorned, “You never asked.”

“If we did ask, would you have told us?”

Kaety sighed, “Probably not.”

“Well, for what it’s worth,” Jemma rubbed Kaety’s arm again, “We would rather like getting to know you and adding you to the family. We would hate to see you leave--even Fitz, who you should slap around the next time he’s mean to you. He’s really just a bunch of hot air.”

Kaety smirked the tiniest bit. Jemma moved her unoccupied hand to squeeze Fitz’ shoulder. “I have an idea. Since we don’t know you well, we get to ask you questions and for every question you choose to answer, we have to answer a question you have. You can say no, but I really would like to get to know you.”

“We both would,” Fitz agreed.

Kaety looked a bit uneasy but agreed to it. Fitz scooted around so they all faced one another.

“Okay,” Jemma began, rubbing her hands in a maniacal way. “We will start easy. Are you dating Colin?”

“No,” Kaety stated quickly. 

“Now, I know that’s a lie,” Fitz called her out.

“We’re having sex. Not dating. I’m not really interested in a romantic relationship.”

Jemma squinted her eyes, skeptically, “Fine, your turn.”

Kaety didn’t even hesitate, “Why doesn’t Fitz wear a wedding ring?”

Fitzsimmons locked eyes, both clearly uncomfortable with the question.

“It’s a bit of a sore point with us,” Fitz offered. “Do you know what happened leading up to the Graviton incident?”

“Yeah, we did a lesson on that in the History of SHIELD class. You all, except Fitz, went to the future to break some sort of time loop that ended with us being enslaved by Kree. Fitz traveled to the future to bring you guys home. You all came back using gravitonium and found Hydra was trying to take over the world with a gravitonium filled child. Except you two foiled their plan and Talbot infused himself instead to save you but then almost destroyed the world but Daisy stopped him. Right?”

“That’s the gist of it,” Jemma confirmed. “But what they probably didn’t specify that we returned from the future after past Fitz left for the future, which cause there to effectively be two Fitz’s--the one who returned from the future with us and one who just left for the future. The history class also, probably, didn’t discuss that we got married during the time that two Fitz’s existed. Or that the Fitz I married died saving others.”

“And we get into the problem that the man she married isn’t me,” Fitz almost whispered.

“Except, to me, he was Fitz. The same as this one here is Fitz. And well, I feel like--,” Jemma starting crying, “If I marry this Fitz, it--it--”

“It’s fine,” Kaety interjected, laying her hand atop of Jemma’s. “I understand. Why don’t you ask me your next question?”

Jemma wiped her face before looking apologetically at Fitz. Fitz rubbed her back in return. After clearing his throat, he asked, “Why do you isolate yourself from everyone?”

Kaety looked confused. “I spend time with everyone.”

“Well, you are around them, but you’re never really with them,” Jemma sniffled a bit. “You don’t have real moments with them. You keep us at a distance emotionally and push us away physically. Like you just did--two minutes ago. So--why?”

Kaety looked down at her hand on Jemma’s, which was the first time she remembered having any meaningful contact since Easter at her parents’ house a couple weeks before graduation. She knew why she was keeping people at a distance, she just didn’t want to think about it. Kaety let words poor out of her mouth, “I--uh--I hurt the people close to me, so it’s best if I don’t let anyone get close.”

“That’s complete rubbish,” Jemma practically barked.

“Excuse me,” Kaety asked pulling away.

“That’s a made-up excuse for someone who is just scared,” Jemma huffed and crossed her arms.

Kaety tried to fight the tears that were threatening, but they still began to sneak out, “You-you don’t know what you’re talking about. 

Jemma paused a moment before controlling her voice again, “Then correct me.”

“I--uh--I--,” Kaety began fidgeting with the edge of her skirt while closing her eyes and attempting to control herself. “I think it’s my turn to ask the question. Not yours. Um--how did you guys learn to mesh with the team?”

Fitz looked at Jemma, who nodded before looking back at Kaety and explaining, “Well, we were lucky in the way of we started the first day the team was put together so everyone was new. They hadn’t formed their ideas of what the team was yet. And we were lucky in the fact that the two of us knew each other since we were sixteen and have been a team almost as long.”

“But we did have problems in the beginning,” Jemma picked up. “Each of us were so wrapped up in ourselves that we didn’t try to understand one another. And It took us opening ourselves up to one another, well that and a common enemy, to really start becoming a team. It didn’t happen naturally.”

Kaety nodded, catching Jemma’s meaning and sighed, “I guess that means you want me to give you some exposition and get on with it then,” Kaety asked before pausing. “If I tell you, could I ask you to keep it to yourselves? I just--I don’t want people to judge me or treat me differently. I promise that no one could possibly hate me more than I do myself.”

Jemma wanted to object to the latter half, but didn’t know where to begin. Instead she opened her mouth and closed it right back up, choosing to nod instead.

Kaety looked down at her skirt again and took a deep breath and let it out slowly before she began, ”I’m not sure where to really begin. I was always really close to my family. When they realized my IQ level at such a young age, they decided they needed to protect me at all costs, especially because I was such an idealist in my youth. My brother was three years older than me, but when I was four, I was helping him with his homework. He didn’t mind, though. He was great. He was always ambitious and stood up for the right thing no matter what. He was going to school to be a lawyer.”

“Was?”

Kaety tried taking another deep breath but tears, once again, started to escape. She really need to work on that, she thought. But she looked up a bit, just enough to make eye contact, and nodded before looking back down, “My parents were also very supportive. They all followed me around the country so I wouldn’t be alone in all of my studying whims. I was eight when we moved to Boston for me to go to Harvard. And I met a boy at taekwondo in Boston named Sebastian and he was my age and the first--the only friend I had. By the time I was working on my dissertations, I had finally started going through puberty and we started dating. And we were great.”

Fitz spoke up when Kaety paused for a second, “That’s a lot of past tense.”

She looked up at him again, her eyes pleading with him. When he didn’t save her, she swallowed hard before continuing, “When I got in the Academy, everything changed. Yes, SHIELD was legitimized, but everything became classified and I couldn’t look them in the face and lie to them everyday. I didn’t want to uproot them again. So I told them to stay in Boston. It would be no different than if I went to boarding school. I visited them on holidays and for the summer. And that was it. It was lonely. Even at a school for geniuses, I was the youngest. I made a couple friends, but I always felt like the tag along. It was okay though. I only had to be there for two and a half years out of the standard five.” 

Kaety began crying harder, shaking as she spoke, “When graduation was rolling around, Colin and I were told would have a real, unclassified one--we could invite our families. Of course I wanted my family and Sebastian to come, but they were iffy on the idea. They didn’t even know what this school was even supposed to be really, they thought I was just doing more science and Boston is seven hours away from D.C., but I begged them to come. So they all took a road trip together to come see me. But they never made it to me.” 

Kaety could barely speak through her tears now, “I was so pissed at them because they were supposed to make it to me before dinner time and we would have a grand feast to celebrate, but they didn’t show. They didn’t show by the time we had to leave for the ceremony. So I called my dad, but it wasn’t my dad who answered. It was a police officer. There had been an accident ten minutes outside of the hotel we were all going to stay at.”

Kaety’s breathing had started going from jagged to unbelievably rapid while she was speaking and it headed straight into a panic attack. Jemma pulled Kaety onto her lap, wrapping one arm around her, and petting her head with the other. Fitz took one of Kaety’s hands in his own. It took awhile, but Jemma was able to calm Kaety back down enough for her to finish.

“Dad had been so tired from the driving and D.C. driving can be confusing and he turned the wrong way and onto an exit ramp where a car was going 70. The car was pulverized. They died on impact. All of them. Gone. They--their--If I hadn’t been such a whiny brat--”

“No,” Fitz cut her off, tears pouring down his face too. “You can’t blame yourself for wanting to spend time with your loved ones. You can’t blame yourself for the outcome of it. Never blame yourself for loving. I don’t blame you. No one here will. The only thing I wish you would have done differently is open up to us all from the beginning--actually join the family.”

“I don’t want to replace my family. If I just move on from them to you, it feels like--”

“Like you’re dishonoring them,” Jemma asked quietly.

“Yeah,” Kaety responded eerily calmly, “I guess it’s just like you and Fitz.”

Jemma looked over to Fitz, who was already looking nervously at Jemma. Jemma nodded and after a few moments of thought, she offered, “And now I think I finally see where Fitz is coming from. I think the Fitz I married wouldn’t want me to be miserable just to honor him and your family wouldn’t want you to be miserable just to honor them. I think we should both reconsider--could you agree to at least thinking about staying and becoming a part of the family?”

There was a knock on the closet door. All three looked up, mildly confused and then tried to wipe their faces dry. Fitz looked to Kaety, who nodded back. He cleared his throat and invited whoever knocked in.

The door opened slowly and Colin’s head peaked in nervously. “You guys have been in here a long time and I was just checking in on you. Is everything okay?”

Kaety, still in Jemma’s lap, cleared her throat and assured him they’d be okay. But he came in and squatted down asking if he could talk to her alone for a minute. Fitz looked to Kaety, who nodded and scooted off Jemma’s lap. Colin made sure to give Kaety her space and when Fitzsimmons left, He immediate attempted to apologize, but Kaety asked him not to.

“Look, Colin, I think maybe we shouldn’t have sex anymore. I think we were both looking for a distraction and sex was the perfect answer, but I also haven’t been fair to you. I think you’re looking for something real-- a relationship, but I can’t give you that. I just--can’t,” she tried to explain.

“No! No. I can handle it. I promise. Just sex.”

_______________

When Fitzsimmons pushed Colin back to go see Kaety instead of him, Colin thought about following right after them. But he knew nothing would get resolved if he were around. Their first rule clearly stated that there could be no feelings between them. 

Then he became angry because he was the only one she didn’t talk--ramble-- to. Their relationship was purely physical: sparring and sex. He had tried to have a real conversation with her numerous times but she pushed him away. He found her incredibly interesting and beautiful and had since the first day of class at the Academy.

The first time he saw her was her first fight at the Academy, which was against Ethan Greer, who had more muscle weight than her body weight. This fight was for all the marbles--it was the first spar of the new Academy and would go down in history, at least amongst the students. Ethan thought he had it in the bag and wanted to pretend to let her get a few shots on him, but she marched in, wearing a mini skirt, and beat him to the ground while, rather loudly, explaining to poor Ethan the exact physics behind why he was eating dirt. She had brains and brawn. He watched at least half the guys fall in love with her that day and the other half were intimidated. She had true power. 

He had wanted to say something to her but couldn’t think of anything even remotely interesting or intelligent to say. She had great technique, but he knew he could beat her because back then, her next move was always written on her face. He thought, at the time, that the best way to impress her was to defeat her, but even after he did, she hadn’t taken notice of him. Later, he had found out she was seeing some civi guy, and so he had given up on trying to impress her and instead made sure he could keep in lead on skill and technique. 

Now he was sleeping with her and she still didn’t even take notice of him. So why did he care so much? Did he want to care about someone who was so self-involved? But after what the Director had said to them, he couldn’t help but think maybe it was a cry for help. But from what? He needed a second opinion. 

“Uh, director, sir,” Colin called to Mack as everyone but Elena started to wander away.

“Where is everyone going? I still have to brief you. We have a mission. This isn’t some TV show where someone has a breakdown and we halt the mission to get some exposition,” Mack called after everyone and sighed as they seemingly didn’t hear him.

“Sir,” Colin tried again.

“Hold on one minute, buddy,” Mack patted him on the shoulder. Then, reaching for the loudspeaker mic, he called for the team to regroup in an hour. “Did you need to talk?”

“I will go rest in the room, Mack,” Elena spoke before raising an eyebrow at Colin and heading off.

“Yeah. I just don’t really know where to begin.”

“It’s Kaety.”

“How’d you know?”

“I see the way you look at her, man. And I know you two are...having fun.”

“Except she’s just...having fun. I want more than ‘fun.’ But she doesn’t--”

“Have you talked to her?”

“Talking isn’t something she wants to do. She has sent me away for trying. With her it’s sparring or having sex. Those are my only options and I don’t know how to be more than a warm body to her.”

“Nothing’s going to change unless you can get her to open up to you and that won’t happen until you get her to trust you. I’m going to say this, but I don’t want to be involved with any of it all--it is against protocol-- but maybe you just have to give her what she needs. If she needs to take out her aggression and she needs time, give them to her. You can’t bulldoze her walls down. She has to want them to come down.”

“So, you’re saying, just to be clear, that the only way I can change something is by not changing anything?”

Mack patted him on the shoulder and headed towards his room.

Colin rolled his head back with a groan and then headed back to the gym where Daisy was already pulverising things. He jumped in. Right now, he needed a distraction.

Once Mack called them back, he didn’t see Fitzsimmons or Kaety heading over, so he thought it was time he checked in. He had waited--an hour.

__________________

Fitzsimmons decided it was time to start alternating their work days. Them not sticking to the original arrangement never had anything to do with Kaety, they were just not ready to give up their team. But they knew they had to. The twins deserved it. Kaety deserved it. 

Kaety had improved emotionally over the course of the week. The weight on her shoulders seemed to lighten ever so slightly. She slowly started offering up tiny pieces of herself to them--small things if conversation called for it. She was even more open to physical contact--she suppressed the flinch that usually followed contact, which was great because Jemma was always the physically comforting kind of person. Jemma would put a hand on your shoulder or knee if you were having a rough time. She liked resting her hand on your forearm if she had something that needed to be said. So when Kaety allowed it to happen, it helped them bond that much more.

Fitzsimmons, in all reality, were slowly becoming her surrogate parents. They wanted to be. Seventeen was so very young to be alone in the world. When they were seventeen, they were just graduating from the Academy too and thought themselves adults, but they could see now that at the time, they were so blissfully unaware of how cruel the world actually was and how much they had to learn still. They were almost twice that age and they still weren’t sure if they were quite yet adults. They just wanted to be there to support her and they knew her life more than any parent actually could.

And the system worked flawlessly. They had been more productive than ever and the twins got their parents. After a couple weeks, Fitzsimmons realized that they still spent most of their time together, even when split up at work. Plus lunchtime and breaks were family time and that included Kaety and Deke.

Kaety and Deke became closer too, in a sibling sense. And now that Kaety knew about Deke and Daisy’s relationship, it meant Kaety was spending more time with Daisy too. Daisy had all the gossip and enjoyed sharing it with Kaety and Kaety just enjoyed having a friend. But Daisy loved pressing her about Colin too, no matter how many times Kaety said there was nothing real between them. 

Daisy also loved training with Kaety and Colin--they were a match for her if she used her powers lightly. Daisy attempted to train Deke multiple times considering she was his S.O. but he refused to fight and so she had mostly given up on him. With him, it was always that fine line of love and hate. So she focused on training with Kaety and Colin.

_____________

Their first real mission (it really had been suspiciously slow for awhile) was at an underground lab of some sort. A couple weeks ago they had received word of someone who seemed to have been administered something that sounded eerily similar to the Super Soldier Serum and he became powerful overnight. But unlike Cap, the man, James Dwyer, was reportedly mentally unstable. Kaetie and Jemma had been working around the clock to track down the man and they had lucked out by tracking him and traces of the chemicals in the serum at the abandoned lab.

The plan was simple: Fitzsimmons and Kaety would search the lab for any trace of the serum. Mack ordered Daisy, Colin, and Piper as one search and rescue team for James. May would lead the second team taking Yo-Yo and Davis. Mack and Deke were staying on board the Zephyr with the twins and was ready to lift off at a moment’s notice if things went badly.

As they entered the building, the actual lab was the first thing in sight. It was a great convenience, except Kaety was nervous about the all-glass walls and the double doors on two sides of it. Kaety cocked her Icer and motioned Fitzsimmons to follow her into the lab. The moment they cleared the room, Jemma directed Fitz to check the computers for anything concerning the serum while Jemma and Kaety started searching the room. Kaety, over comms, informed the rest of the team they were clear and she watched as the two teams split and followed two separate hallways.

_____________

Daisy readied her hands to quake as soon as the turned the first corner. She, just then, realized she had forgotten her bracers. She really was out of shape. She also hadn’t realized how much she loved field work until she got excited about it after two whole years of nothing. She rounded the corner and found an empty hallway with eight doors, four on each side. She motioned for them to follow and they began checking doors. They found nothing but trash and some chemicals in them and so they proceeded down the next corridor.

____________

May and her team crept down to the first corner and May sent Yo-Yo up to scout. Yo-Yo had heard several voice coming from a room up ahead. May signaled for them to stay and she checked the first door on the right. After clearing the room, she signaled for them to join her. Over comms, May alerted the other teams of personnel in the building. So much for abandoned, she thought. Less than five minute later, the voices grew louder. The voices were already too close for her to alert the other teams that there were people on the move, she just had to hope they were looking out. She ducked under the window of the door and hoped they weren’t looking too closely.

____________

Once they learned there were hostiles on the move, Jemma and Kaety didn’t bother to cover up their tracks as they searched frantically. Jemma tossed another bin to the floor when a case full of reflective things caught her eye. She opened the lid on the giant container and the reflection was from sealed test tubes with labels reading SSSH-47. Kaety carefully helped Jemma tuck as many test tubes as they could into the padded case they had brought with and Jemma called out, “Fitz, I need you to quickly search for SSSH-47 and copy all of those files to the drive. We need to move.”

They were waiting for the files to finish transfering when Kaety saw the first of the men. She shoved one of the lab tables (between the men and Fitz) over and squatted behind it. The men took a minute before they directed their attention towards the lab and as soon as they did, they hustled over.

Kaety tried to steady her voice as she ordered them, “Jemma, cover Fitz. As soon as the files finish, duck down and leave. I’m going to take out as many as I can with the Icer. I have eight rounds. Jemma shoot as many as you can but when that finishes, get out of here!”

Fitz tossed Kaety his Icer murmuring that he didn’t need it and as soon as Kaety caught it, bullets started flying. Jemma had managed to ice two men before Fitz finished, but she wouldn’t budge from her spot.

“I can’t leave you, Kaety.”

“Yes, you can. It’s your twins you can’t leave behind. If anything happens--Just don’t let anything happen. Go,” Kaety shouted as she took out an eighth guy. 

Jemma swore before grabbing Fitz’ arm and leading him out of the lab.

Kaety had used half of her rounds, but there had to be at least another 30 guys there. She tried looking for some portable protection, but there was nothing. She took out another five guys before being grazed by a bullet. She held her breath as two waves of intense pain washed over her and then she had to get back into the fight. After taking out three more guys with the last of her bullets, she had to go out there unprotected. She slid the Icer across the floor, making enough noise for the guys to turn their attention in it’s direction. She had to make her move now or she’d have no chance. She jumped out from behind the table, surprising the nearest man. She was able to disarm him, wrap her arms around him, and use him as a body shield. She didn’t want to kill anyone but it was looking like she might not have a choice.

_____________

Daisy heard gunfire and changed direction mid-course, running towards the sound. Colin and Piper followed. When Daisy made it to the lab, she saw Kaety surrounded by about 20 men, and struggling. There was blood running down all over Kaety’s body--she was covered in it. But the surprising thing was the 30 or so men at her feet. Daisy called over comms, “I have eyes on Kaety. May, find James and get out of here.” 

Daisy ran into the lab and quaked two guys who looked ready to shoot. Piper held an automatic Icer and began shooting, taking six out at once. Colin came barging in, standing next to Kaety, who took the distractions to knock out three more guys. Colin, in turn took out two.

“Kaety, Colin, stand back,” Daisy shouted before quaking the last seven down and Piper Iced them just in case. “Where’s Fitzsimmons?”

Kaety’s breathing was labored, “I sent them to the Zephyr with the samples and intel. We need to go help May.” Kaety was bent over, trying not to scream out in pain. In the chaos, Kaety had been shot in the shoulder.

“No. Colin is taking you back to the Zephyr. Piper and I will back up May’s team. Go now before more guys come.”

“I can fight,” Kaety protested.

“You’ve already proved that, but you’re hurt. I need you to live to fight another day. Go now!”

After watching Colin escort Kaety away, she bent down to take a few of the men’s guns and tossed two of them to Piper. The goal was to ice them, but it was nice to have them just in case. They only met two other men on the way and Piper iced them even before Daisy could quake them. Daisy heard pounding and then a scream from Yo-yo. She and Piper ran towards the noise and almost collided with May as Yo-Yo and Davis followed her. 

“Run,” May shouted. “Icers don’t affect him and he’s pissed. We can’t save him. Not right now.”

They heard more voices from behind them and saw another group of about 50 men coming from the back hallway. They started running as fast as they could at that point.

“Mack,” Daisy yelled over comms, “Get the Zephyr ready to go now. We will be there in less than a minute.”

_______________

After Jemma had mended everyone, everyone but May sprawled out together in the common room. 

“So,” Kaety began, voice high from a painkiller induced haze, “Does field work normally get that messy?”

Jemma laughed while she patted Kaety’s head, which was in her lap. “I’d say every other mission.”

There was a soft laughter from the group in response.

“It seems we really botched it then, yeah? We didn’t even save the guy,” Colin was slightly resigned.

 

“Not at all,” Mack cut it. “Look, we got some samples and a ton of information on the serum. We just have to give Fitzsimmons and Kaety some time and they will figure out what we are fighting against. It was a good first mission as a new team.”

After a few more minutes of comfort, Kaety looked around and noticed May wasn’t there. She got up, wincing a bit at the pain shooting through her shoulder, and stumbled to the cockpit. She knocked but no one responded so she slid the door open, patted May on the shoulder, and then sat down content to watch the sky in a comfortable silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about all the exposition. I didn't plan on it being that long but I also wanted to do it justice. There is also the start of the major arc of the story, so I should be able to get to some good stuff next chapter. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
